Minor girl repeatedly gangraped in Bhopal, 3 accused arrested

Bhopal: A 10-year-old girl was allegedly raped by three men, including a 65-year-old watchman, repeatedly over three months following which the accused were arrested, police said on Friday.

The three were arrested on Thursday and were sent to judicial custody on Friday. They were identified as Gokul Panwala (45), Gyanendra Pandit (36) and Nanhu Lal (65).

The accused were on Friday thrashed by angry locals when they were taken to their houses to gather evidence as part of police investigation, Jehangirabad Police Station Inspector Preetam Singh Thakur said.

The victim, a Class V student, was last raped on November 12, he said.

Her mother noticed that she was looking sad and unusually quiet from the last few days. When she asked if anything was wrong, the girl initially did not speak, but later narrated her ordeal to her mother, the inspector said.

The mother registered a complaint with the police last evening, he said.

The crime took place in the house of one Suman Pandey (50), who was also apprehended and sent to jail, he added.

Thakur said the accused, who lived in the same locality as the girl, had threatened the victim with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone.

Police got a pan (betel) shop of Gokul Panwala removed which he had set up by encroaching upon government land, the inspector said.

“Besides, we have launched proceedings to get the driving licence of Pandit cancelled,” the officer said.

In the evening, all three were produced in a court which sent them to judicial custody till November 29, said Jehangirabad region City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Bhartandu Sharma.

The accused were charged under relevant sections of the IPC, including 376D (gangrape), and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

The case comes 16 days after a 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped by four men for nearly three hours near the railway tracks in the city when she was returning home after attending a coaching class.